Bucknell loses at Lafayette
EASTON – Lafayette’s Ross Scheuerman rushed 20 times for 188 yards, and the Leopards beat Bucknell, 31-7, on Saturday evening at Fisher Stadium.
The Bison forced four Lafayette (1-3, 1-0 PL) turnovers as Matthew Steinbeck had two interceptions, Clayton Ewell recorded his first career interception and the Leopards’ Darrell Crawford dropped a first-half punt.
Freshman RJ Nitti got his first start at quarterback for Bucknell (1-3, 0-1 PL) in place of injured senior Brandon Wesley and completed 14 of 32 passes for 64 yards.
“When teams pressure you it reduces your comfort zone and that is what Lafayette does,” said Bison head coach Joe Susan. “We have a young quarterback, but that’s not an excuse. There are some things we have to fix and we will.
“RJ is someone that played six games as a senior last year. This process was so beneficial to him. He will only get better. He is good and we will work our tails off to make sure he does.”
Lafayette scored three touchdowns in the first 20 minutes of the contest to take a 21-0 lead. The first score came when the Leopards capitalized on a Nitti fumble that gave them the ball at the 2-yard line. One play later, Scheuerman scored.
Lafayette went up 14-0 with 5:18 left in the first quarter when Andrew Dzurik completed a 2-yard pass to Brandon Hall. It capped an eight-play, 53-yard drive that featured 47 rushing yards by Scheuerman.
Dzurik capped a six-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Morgan Donohue with 11:44 left in the second quarter to make it 21-0.
LAFAYETTE 31,
BUCKNELL 7
Bucknell 070 0- 7
Lafayette 1473 7-31
First Quarter
Laf-Scheuerman 2 run (Gralish kick), 10:37.
Laf-Hall 2 pass from Dzurik (Gralish kick), 5:18.
Second Quarter
Laf-Donohue 10 pass from Dzurik (Gralish kick), 11:44.
Buck-Thompson 12 pass from Nitti (Maurer kick), 4:48.
Third Quarter
Laf-FG Gralish 24, :34.
Fourth Quarter
Laf-Scheuerman 78 run (Gralish kick), 7:09.
A-7,814.
BuckLaf
First downs618
Rushes-yards28-1637-193
Passing64235
Comp-Att-Int14-32-122-37-3
Return Yards5515
Punts-Avg.13-36.57-38.4
Fumbles-Lost3-11-1
Penalties-Yards8-609-62
Time of Possession28:0731:53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Bucknell, Thompson 8-43, Regan 13-22, Pini 1-(minus 3), Nitti 6-(minus 46). Lafayette, Scheuerman 20-188, Crawford 1-5, Dzurik 6-5, Kessel 2-2, Irving 7-2, Reed 1-(minus 9).
PASSING-Bucknell, Nitti 14-32-1-64. Lafayette, Dzurik 22-37-3-235.
RECEIVING-Bucknell, Pini 4-10, Brake 3-26, Lebo 2-5, Friend 2-4, Thompson 1-12, Sullivan 1-6, Kelly 1-1. Lafayette, Ross 6-56, Scheuerman 4-69, Hall 3-42, Duncan 2-22, Dixon 2-1, Creahan 1-24, Donohue 1-10, Adams 1-7, Vangelas 1-5, Crawford 1-(minus 1).